Alexander Pope Essay on Man

Publishing Year: 1734

Species: philosophical poem

Consists of 4 verse epistles (each published separately and anonymously)

Themes:

- Existence of God
- Nature (the importance of natural rules) that guides the Universe
- Ethics (how man should behave [in society] and think [to himself])
- Universes order
- Happiness
Masks catholic ideas

INTRO Henry St. John = secretary of state and prime minister under Queen Anne (friend of
the poet)

-describes life as:

-> a mighty maze, but not unorganized

-> a garden tempting with forbidden fruit

-> an ample field that humans are to discover in more than earthly ways
(leave meaner things / To low ambition, and pride of kings; life can little more supply /
Than just to look about us and to die; Let us () / Expatiate free oer all this scene of
man)

EPISTLE 1 OF NATURE AND STATE OF MAN, WITH RESPECT TO THE

UNIVERSE

I. The poet says that the man is limited in his power of understanding the world and
that he should acknowledge his limitation.
What can we reason, but from what we know?
 God is the only one that sees through worlds unnumbered and understands and
controls the way everything is a part of the whole (system into system)
It ends with the rhetorical question of whether God or the man is the one in control
of the great chain, that draws all to agree
II. Further describes the way every being contributes to the whole Universe in their
own way; building up the argument of why man is not God, but formed so weak,
so little and so blind like: Jupiter (God) and its satellites (humans)
The man is just another part of the complex system of the Universe
The poet then approaches the never-ending question of man: Whether God has
placed him wrong in the Universe. The replies that follow are: that right and wrong
are relative to humans and that God has created a just system (which the man is
part of).
Unlike the actions of humans (which rarely consist of a well-elaborated system in
which every small part leads to a concrete result), Gods actions are independent
(have value in themselves) and one single () serves to second too some other
use (COMPARISON: the steed does not understand why humans restrain it and
how they use it)
Man can only (and should only) comprehend himself and his actions Then say
not mans imperfect, Heaven in fault; / Say rather mans as perfect as he ought
man should be content and try to achieve his own perfection (the one hes capable
of)
III. The poet strengthens his argument (limitation = good) by pointing to the lamb, that
is happy because its clueless to the fact that its going to be sacrificed (And lick
the hand just raised to shed his blood). The lamb is clueless because it does not
have a humans reasoning.
blindness to the future is a gift (people are blind because it is easier for them).
This can only result in hope as the best answer for humans all that people have to
do is wait for the teacher Death (because Death will illuminate the universal
truth: God and His ways) and adore God.
IV. The man thinks hes wise enough to:
-call the Universe imperfect
-destroy creatures however he thinks is right
Yet he cries, because:
-mans unhappy
 -Gods unjust
If man were to rebuild His justice:
-angels would be gods
-men would be angels

V. Inverting the laws of God is no good, because:

a) man thinks all Nature belongs to and works for himself, but then why does the
Nature sometimes rebel (through natural disasters and such)?

b) Universal Laws = general and not particular (no exceptions)

a), b) => If the greatest goal is human happiness, Nature deviates

-This rebelling reasoning comes from PRIDE.

-To reason right is to SUBMIT.

-> As air or ocean feel the wind creating tempests, same is the human mind altered
by passions.

VI. Humans use animals however they please and urge for the strength of bulls, the fur of
bears, yet every being compensates each others abilities.

Is Heaven unkind to man, and man alone?

Shall he alone, whom rational we call,

Be pleased with nothing, if not blessed with all?

Science = supposed to show humans the power and complexity of God/Heaven.

VII. Between the abilities of every being theres a thin but insuperable line. The beings
are separated in this way with a certain purpose.

VIII. On superior powers / Were we to press, inferior might on ours: / Or in the full
creation leave a void one step broken => the whole system collapses

IX. What if the parts of the human body didnt want to obey the human anymore and tried
to reach for higher positions? (the body = Nature; the soul = God).

Everything is equal in their own way

X. Concludes with a cry to the humans to stop their complaining and obey Gods
organization

EPISTLE 2 OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HIMSELF

AS AN INDIVIDUAL

I. The proper study of mankind is man the only significant study man can do is
self-study, introspection.
Man = riddle of the World
Science = imitating God
Science is not in contradiction to God, but only a remembering(Plato) => it must
be stripped off of pride
Passion is stronger than reason
II. Self-love to urge, and reason, to restrain
Self-love is the engine and reason is what gives meaning, what coordinates (an
action) => self-love shouldnt govern all:
Reason still use, to reason still attend
Self love and reason to one end aspire => harmony between them is necessary
III. passions = modes of self-love
And reason bids us for our own provide
Virtues = harmony between reason and passion
strength of mind is exercise, not rest resting is regressing
Must primarily obey/follow the Natural Laws and live in harmony, because:
Yes, Natures road must ever be preferred;
Reasons is here no guide, but still a guard:
Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow
Every virtue is good as long as it develops harmonically and is USEFUL. However,
theres a thin line between virtue and vice.

EPISTLE 3 OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO SOCIETY

I. The Universal Cause / Acts to one end, but acts by various laws
All is connected and should communicate/unite through love/affection (Look
round our world; behold the chain of love; Nothing is foreign: parts relate to
whole; / One all-extending, all-preserving soul / Connects each being, greatest
with the least)
 We are all equal (all beings) Has God, thou fool! Worked solely for THY good?
II. -Reason is a gift that is harder to use than the instinct (which is always awake) =>
we have to place it higher than the instincts.
-Each loves itself, but not itself alone
III. The world is a whole and is based on mutual understanding => beings seek for
love/affection
Virtues, passions, reason -> they all participate in love
IV. The state of nature was the reign of God:
Self-love and social at her birth began
In the beginning man was supposed to be in a relationship of mutual understanding
with all Nature, but pride led him into killing animals and becoming a savage beast.
Every human-made invention (even politics) finds its roots in Nature (that has
been analysed by man)
V. When love was liberty, and Nature law -> Till common interest placed the
sway in one. / Twass virtue only
VI. -For Nature knew no right divine in men,
No ill could fear in God; and understood
A sovereign being but a sovereign good.
-And, formed like tyrants, tyrants would believe
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide;
And hell was built on spite, and heaven on pride
-So two consistent motions act the soul;
And one regards itself, and one the whole

EPISTLE 4 OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN, WITH RESPECT TO

HAPPINESS

- Happiness is fixed and lays not in the exterior conditions but in our own actions
and perspectives
- Happiness is not in knowledge/science, but in Natures path:
All Natures difference keeps all Natures peace
Condition, circumstance is not the thing
- Happiness is universal (anyone has access to it)
- If everyone was already happy, the elements of human (passions) would have no
purpose (and they are the key to human harmony)
 - God sends not ill; if rightly understood,
Immense the power, immense were the demands
- Fame is not happiness -> fame = A tale that blends their glory with their shame
- Virtue alone is happiness below
- Happier as kinder, in whateer degree,
And height of bliss but height of charity
- That virtue only makes our bliss below;
And all our knowledge is, ourselves to know.

Alexander Pope Rape of the Lock

Publishing Year: 1712

Characters:

- Belinda
- Shock (Belindas lapdog)
- The Baron
- Caryl
- The Goddess (the muse of the poet)
- Ariel
- Brillante
- Momentilla
- Crispissa
- Umbriel
- Clarissa (a woman from the Hampton Court party. She lends the Baron the
scissors)
- Thalestris
 - Sir Plume (Thalestriss beau)

Genre: poem

Summary:

CANTO1: Belinda wakes up late from her dream in which a handsome youth (her guardian
Sylph Ariel) tells her that she is guarded by several supernatural beings who were once
women (among whom the Sylphs that float in the air are her personal guards). These beings
are the ones who protect a womans chastity, and not the honor. Ariel also tells Belinda that
a bad thing is going to happen to her today and advices her to beware of men.

Belinda wakes up to the licking of her lapdog and forgets all about the dream when she finds
a love-letter. She dresses up in front of the mirror (assisted by her invisible guardians).

CANTO2: Belinda sets out on the river of Thames to Hampton Court palace, accompanied by
a series of ladies and gentlemen. However, she is the most beautiful and outstanding of all.

Theres one young gentleman (the Baron) who wants to steal Belindas locks. He has
prepared for this since the morning: he built an altar to love, sacrificed tokens of his former
loves and prayed to the gods for his success.

Ariel assigns some sylphs to guard parts of Belinda:

- Brillante -> earrings

- Momentilla -> watch
- Crispissa -> locks
- Ariel himself -> Shock (the lapdog)
- 50 sylphs -> the petticoat

CANTO3: The boat arrives at Hampton Court Palace and the people start their courtly
amusements. Belinda plays cards with two men (the Baron included). The game is described
as a battle in which Belinda almost loses to the Baron, but finally recovers and wins.

After that, the people serve coffee. The Baron takes a pair of scissors and tries to cut
Belindas curls. However, the sylphs are trying hard to protect her (either by blowing the wind
or by tinkling her diamond earrings so that she turns around). At some point, Ariel enters
Belindas mind and finds that she is interested in earthly love. => Ariel stops protecting her.
The Baron cuts her locks and Belinda screams.
CANTO4: Belinda is desperate and very sad. After the Sylphs withdraw, a gnome called
Umbriel (on his way to the Cave of Spleen) passes through Belindas bedroom (where she
is assisted by two handmaidens: Ill-Nature and Affectation). Umbriel comes back with a
bag of sighs, sobs, and passions and pours them on Belinda => making her more desperate.

Belindas friend Thalestris pushes her to wish to avenge herself. She goes to Sir Plume and
asks him to ask the Baron to return the hair, but the Baron refuses. => Belinda is very
miserable and regrets not paying attention to the dream. Only one curl remained

CANTO5: The Baron doesnt want to give Belindas lock back. Clarissa talks about how
women should not only think about beauty (because it eventually fades away) but about moral
beauty as well, but Belinda and Thalestris dont listen to her and proceed to attack the Baron.
Belinda wins with the use of snuff and her bodkin, but the ringlet has been lost in the chaos.

The poet says that the lock is now on the sky; in order to attract more envy than it could on
earth.
 Alexander Pope Essay on Criticism

Publishing Year: 1711

Genre: philosophical poem

PART 1

-Let such teach others who themselves excel,

And censure freely, who have written well

-But as the slightest sketch if justly traced

Is by ill coloring but the more disgraced critics can only judge the shape, not the content

-But you who seek to give and merit fame,

And justly bear critics noble name,

Be sire yourself and your own reach to know

How far your genius taste and learning go.

Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet

And mark that point where sense and dullness meet. (advice to critics)

- Man shouldnt critique (because it comes from a sense of vanity)

- Everyones peculiar and judge the same thing differently
- Content=more important than shape (it even contributes to the shape)

-Those rules, of old discovered, not devised,

Are nature still, but nature methodized;

Nature, like liberty, is but restrained

By the same laws which first herself ordained.

Rules come from what already is. They dont restrain

-The generous critic fanned the poets fire,

And taught the worlds with reason to admire.

Then criticism the muses handmaid proved,

To dress her charms, and make her more beloved:

But following wits from that intention strayed

Who could not win the mistress, wooed the maid

Against the poets their own arms they turned

How criticism is supposed to be (to encourage the artists) and how it had strayed from
its origins.

-Some dryly plain, without inventions aid,

Write dull receipts how poems may be made

These leave the sense their learning to display,

And those explain the meaning quite away.

About critics that talk about how poems should be made

-Are nameless graces which no methods teach,

And which a master hand alone can reach

Arts cannot be taught (it is instinctual, from Nature)

-Which without passing through the judgment gains

The heart and all its end at once attains

Art is not rational

-In prospects, this, some objects please our eyes,

Which out of natures common order rise

Art = natural
-Still green with bays each ancient altar stands,

()

To admire superior sense, and doubt their own!

One should take pride in their own poetry, because poetry is a concept of its own and
may enlighten people (one just writes it, but it already exists)
- Pride = our defense mechanism (but its no good) we must accept and know our
flaws

-A little learning is a dangerous thing

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

And drinking largely sobers us again.

One must dedicate to a certain science/art (not endeavor in it just a little)

-As men of breeding, sometimes men of wit,

To avoid great errors, must the less commit:

Neglect the rules each verbal critic lays,

For not to know some trifles is a praise

True commitment/feelings do not depend on rules and are the core of a poem

-Most critics, fond of some subservient art,

Still make the whole depend upon a part:

They talk of principles, but notions prize,

And all to one loved folly sacrifice.

Critics should look at the whole, not analyze every part

-As shades more sweetly recommend the light,

So modest plainness sets off springhtly wit

For works may have more wit than does them good,

As bodies perish through excess of blood.

A work cannot be entirely rational/well-thought/perfect, because its also the flaws

ornament (of words) that add to its beauty

-Words are like leaves, and where they most abound

Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.

There must be a harmony between shape and content.

-But most by number judge a poets song

And smooth or rough, with them is right or wrong.

About critics that impart right and wrong labels over anything

-True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learned to dance

Art comes from practice, not rational conventions and critics must know how to write

-The sounds must seem an echo to the sense

Content is more important than shape [again[ (and they are in harmony)

-For fools admire, but men of sense approve

Harmony (one must reflect upon anything calmly and not jump to conclusions)

-Some neer advance a judgment of their own

But catch the spreading notion of the town,

They reason and conclude by precedent

One must think for themselves

-Some judge of authors names not works, and then

Nor praise nor blame the writing, but the men.

 One should judge the work, not the author

-Of all this servile herd the words is he

That in proud dullness joins with quality

The original one is mostly criticized

-So much they scorn the crows that if the throng

By chance go right they purposely go wrong:

So schismatics the plain believers quit,

And are but dammed for having too much wit

The ones having too much wit are blamed

The authors think their reputation safe,

Which lives as long as fools are pleased to laugh

A writer must be remembered for his true value

Pride => bad criticism

PART 2

-Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning, join;

In all you speak, let truth and candor shine

-> rules and conventions are not enough, but truth and emotion are needed in poetry and art.

-Without good breeding truth is disapproved;

That only makes superior sense beloved.

-> the emotions behind poetry is (and should not be) inferior to the conventions

-Your silence there is better than your spite,

For who can rail so long as they can write?

Critics must encourage writers and be objective, not spiteful

-With warmth gives sentence, yet is always just:

Whose own example strengthens all his laws;

And is himself that great sublime he draws.

-> a good and just critic is that who is sublime in art himself.

-Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame,

Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame,

Averse alike to flatter, or offend,

Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend..

How critics should be

 G. G. Byron Don Juan

Publishing Year: 1818-1824

Satiric Poem

Characters:

-Don Juan

-Don Jose (Don Juans father)

-Donna Inez (Don Juans mother)

-Donna Julia

-Don Alfonso

-Antonia (Donna Julias housemaid)

-Pedrillo (Juans tutor)

-Pedro (Juans valet) who dies in the shipwreck

-Haidee

-Zoe (Haidees maid)

-Lambro (Haidees father)

- Gulbeyaz

-Baba(the eunuch)

-The Sultan

-Dudu (concubine)

-Katinka (concubine)

-Lolah (concubine)

-Georgian??
 -Suwarrow (Russian commander)

-Leila (Turkish orphan girl)

-Lady Pinchback (Leilas tutor)

- Lady Adeline Amundeville (English lady)

-Lord Henry (Adelines husband)

-Strongbow and Longbow (2 English aristocrats)

CANTO 1:

Perfect she was, but as perfection is

Insipid in this naughty world of ours,
Where our first parents never learn'd to kiss
Till they were exiled from their earlier bowers,
Where all was peace, and innocence, and bliss(5)

-The poet starts by listing historical heroes (ex.: Vernon, the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke
etc.) and finally chooses Don Juan to be the hero of his story.
-First describes his parents (Don Jose A better cavalier ne'er mounted horse and Donna Inez
she was a walking calculation; she was perfect past all parallel). However:
Don Jose and the Donna Inez led
For some time an unhappy sort of life,
Wishing each other, not divorced, but dead(6)

-Don Juan (born in Seville, Spain) A little curly-headed, good-for-nothing, / And mischief-
making monkey from his birth(6)
-while Donna Inez is suing Don Jose for a divor e, Jose dies from a fever.
Donna Innez resolves that Juan should be highly educated:
--He learn'd the arts of riding, fencing, gunnery, / And how to scale a fortressor a nunnery.(9)
--Arts, sciences, no branch was made a mystery / To Juan's eyes, excepting natural history.(9)
(bascic facts of life)
-Rumours are going on about Inez and Alfonso and so Inez becomes close friends with Julia
(Alfonsos wife) in order to silence the scandal a bit.

Even innocence itself has many a wile,

And will not dare to trust itself with truth,
And love is taught hypocrisy from youth.

-Juan and Julia are attracted to each other => Julia cheats her husband with Juan.
-One night Don Alfonso breaks into his wifes bedroom (accompanied by people with torches).
However he does not fiind Juan as he was well hidden in the close (pile of clothes on the bed?) by
Antonia (Julias housemaid) and takes hard reproaches from his wife for doubting her innocence.
-After the people leave Alfonso comes back into Julias room to apologies he find Juans pair of
shoes and leaves to take his sword. In the meantime Julia advices Juan to leave and so he does but
meets Alfonso on the way. They fight Juan sends a blow to Alfonsos nose then runs away.
-After the scandal, Alfonso sues Julia for divorce; Julia is sent to a convent (from where she writes
a letter to Juan telling him to let it go) and Inez send Juan to travel through Europe in order to learn
more (for 4 years).

O Love! how perfect is thy mystic art,

Strengthening the weak, and trampling on the strong,(24)

What is the end of Fame? 't is but to fill

A certain portion of uncertain paper(48)

CANTO 2:

-Juan travels from Cadiz, Spain to Leghonr, Italy (weeping for he left his mother, his mistress and
his country Spain)
-on the ship to Leghonr (where Juans family had relatives the Moncada family) he vows to never
forget Julia (Sooner shall earth resolve itself to sea, / Than I resign thine image, oh, my fair!(55) )
-He travels together with 3 servants and his tutor, Pedrillo.
-The ship encounters a strong storm and despite the seamens efforts it eventually sinks. However,
Juan and as many people as could escaped on a long-boat. Unfortunatelly Pedro (one of Juans
valets) dies falling into the waves.
-On the fifth day on the long-boat, Juans spaniel was killed for food. Later on, Pedrillo is also
forced to sacrifice in order for some to eat. (Juan refuses to eat Pedrillo and his dog, from which he
only eats a paw)
-The people finally get to an isle. Juan swims to the lang but gets hurt and faints on the shore.
-Luckly (and top revent another victim of cannibalism) the boat gets close to an isle. Juan (clinging
to an oar) gets to the shore and collapses, but the other 3 people who were still alive on the boat die.
-He wakes up to see a Haidee (the daughter of an Irish former fisherman) and her servant who
dragged him into a nearby cave and took care of him. Haidee decides to keep Juan a secret for fear
her father might sell him as a slave.
Happiness was born a twin(90)
-Eventually Haidee falls in love with Juan.
-Haidees father leaves on the sea and so she is alone for a while. She and Juan stroll on the beach
and kiss.

- Man, being reasonable, must get drunk;

The best of life is but intoxication(91)

-no doubt they never reckon'd;

And if they had, they could not have secured
The sum of their sensations to a second(97)

-'T is the perception of the beautiful,

()
Without which life would be extremely dull(99)

CANTO 3:
- In her first passion woman loves her lover,
In all the others all she loves is love,
Which grows a habit she can ne'er get over,
And fits her looselylike an easy glove(102)

- The present weather would be much more rainy

Tears shed into the grave of the connection
Would share most probably its resurrection.(112)

-Haidee and Juan get married and (Haidees father being gone) move into her fathers mansion.

-Lambro (Haidees father) who is a pirate, sells slaves and steals; loves his daugther very much
and has actually a mild temper comes back after a month to find the whole island on a feast.
Dwarves and greek women are dancing, servants are drunk and saying that the old master died and
there is a new one, while Haidee and Juan are dining (dressed in gorgeous garments) in Lambros
dining hall.

CANTO 4:

Love was born with them, in them, so intense,

It was their very spiritnot a sense
-Haidee and Juan go to sleep, but Haidee has a nightmare (in which Juan lies dead and cold at her
feet and his faces features slowly change into her fathers ) from which she wakes up to actually
see her father.
- Juan takes grabs a sword which he refuses to put back when asked by Lambro => Lambro takes
out his gun intending to kill Juan, but Haidee jumps in front of him.
-Lambros pirates attack Juan and take him to the ship (hardly wonded) where he meets other
captives. He is taken to a slave market in Constantinopole.
- Seeing Juan attacked, one of Haidees veins snaps => she is in a coma. After she wakes up she
refuses to eat and is so pained that she finally dies (she will be burried on the shore of the island
together with her father)
CANTO 5:

-At the market, Juan meets a fellow Englishman (Johnson)

-they are both bought by Baba (the eunuch) from Guleybazs orders (the 4th wife of the Sultan and
his favourite)
-Juan is ordered to dress in girls clothes
-Guleybaz orders him to make love to her, but he refuses (still faithfull to Haidees memory) and
starts crying. Guleybaz is first outraged, but eventually starts crying as well. Her tears shake Juan.
-Baba announces the Sultans arrival who, noticing Don Juan, says :
'I see you 've bought another girl; 't is pity
That a mere Christian should be half so pretty.'

CANTO 6:

-Juan (or Juanna) is led to the place of the concubines, where a lot of the females want to sleep in
his company. However Dudu (another concubine, whom the Matron describes as quiet, inoffensive,
silent, shy(202) ) is picked to sleep with him..
-Dudu kisses Juan (and undresses in front of him): And then she gave Juanna a chaste kiss: / Dudu
was fond of kissing(204); In perfect innocence she then unmade / Her toilet(205)
-Dudu wakes up in the middle of the night screaming because she has had a nighmare (in which she
wanted to take a golden apple but she got stung by a bee)
-The Sultan has to leave for business with the russians
-The next day, Baba tells sultana (Guleybaz) that Juan and Dudu have slept together and she is
outraged (and calls for the 2)

CANTO 7:

-The Turkish city of Ismail is attacked by Russians.

-Juan together with Johnson (the Englishman), 2 Turkish ladies and an their eunuch escape and side
with the Russians (because Johnson has fought with the Russians before).
-The Russian commander Suwarrow agrees to help them:
-asigns Johnson to his former place (the Nikolaiew regiment)
-asigns Juan to himself

CANTO 8:

-*The armys are still fighting => huge bloodshed

-Turks die admirably

-Juan (even though unexperienced) fights well and saves a Turkish orphan girl from 2 russian
soldiers (by killing them)
-Russians win
-Juan -> lieutenant of the Russian army
-Juan is sent to Petersburgh to personally send the good news to the Empress Catherine the
Great (because he proved honourable)
-Juan swears to protect the orphan girl(Leila) and takes her with him.

CANTO 9:

- Why do they call me misanthrope? Because

They hate me, not I them.and here we 'll pause.(278)

-The Empress Catherine falls in love at first sight with Juan

-She gives him a lot of wealthy presents => Juans pride grows
-Juan had now drawn the attention of the whole court (and even jealousy)

CANTO 10:

- Juan, instead of courting courts, was courted,

A thing which happens rarely: this he owed
Much to his youth, and much to his reported
Valour(300)
-Juan writes a letter to his mother, Donna Inez, in which he tells her that he is fine and she
replies by reminding him that he is a Catholic and should not convert to Orthodoxism.
-Juan falls sick (because of the cold in Petersburgh) and the Empress is forced to send him on
a trip to England.
-He travels through Germany and Holland (on his way). Everyone is amazed by how beautiful
he is.

CANTO 11:

-Don Juan is robbed but he shoots the muggler, then regrets it.
-He becomes an attraction for English people as well for his beauty (same as in Russia):
Fair virgins blush'd upon him; wedded dames
Bloom'd also in less transitory hues(325)
-He spends his days doing business, visits and in the end entertaining himself (through
dancing and so on).

CANTO 12:

-Juan decides to leave Leila in the care of Lady Pinchbeck, an old wise woman who is also
interested in the orphan.

CANTO 13:

-Juan becomes close friends with Lady Adeline Amundeville and her husband Lord Henry
and visits them ofthen
-Henry really likes Juan and goes to all kinds of events with him
-Lord Hendry (together with Lady Adeline) invites Juan and a bunch of English aristocrats to
their country retreat (Norman Abbey). Amongst them there are: Strongbow and Longbow.

CANTO 14:
 -Lady Fitz-Fulke(who is amongst the guests of the Amundevilles and leaves apart from her
husband) takes a special inteerest in Juan. However, Lady Adeline notices and protects Juan
from her (because she has a bad reputation):
The Duchess of Fitz-Fulke, who loved 'tracasserie,'
Began to treat him with some small 'agacerie.'(392)
-Lady Adeline thinks she is responsible to fiind Don Juan a suitable wife.
-Lady Adeline herself does not actually love her husband: Our gentle Adeline had one
defect / Her heart was vacant(401); She loved her lord, or thought so; but that love / Cost
her an effort, which is a sad toil(401)

CANTO 15:

-Lady Adeline advices Juan to marry and presents him with a list she complied with suitable
women. However, Lady Auror Raby (a lovely being) is not on the list and Juan is curious
why. She was also a Catholic (just like Juan).
-However when Juan asks the reason, Adeline marvell'd 'what he saw in such a baby / As that prim,
silent, cold Aurora Raby?'(416)
-At dinner:
-Lady Aurora does not really seem interested in Don Juan => this attracts Juan
-Juan does not act interested either => this also attracts Aurora

CANTO 16:

-In the night, Juan cannot sleep and wonders in the hallways of the house. He meets with the
Black Friar (the ghost of a monk).
-The next day Lady Adeline and Aurora notice there is something wrong with Juan, but he
does not want to tell. Lord Henry dtories about the ghost of the Black Friar => lifts Juans
spirits
-A group of people from a nearby village come to talk to Lord Henry about a mortgage.
-The next night Juan hears the footsteps of the ghost which eventually enters his room.
However, as he approaches the ghost he realises that it is actually the Duchess Fitz-Fulke in
disguise.
 CANTO 17:

-The guests dropped in, the last but one, Her Grace,
The latest, Juan with his virgin face.(458)

-Juan looked
As if he had combated with more than one,
Being wan and worn(458)

-Her Grace too had a sort of air rebuked,

Seemed pale and shivered(458)
 John Keats La Belle Dame sans Merci

Publishing Year: 1819

-The poem starts with the speaker asking a knight-at-arms what happened to him (what
can ail thee), because he is alone and palely loitering; so haggard and so woe-begone.
Also the speaker sets his story in the autumn (the sedge has withered and no birds sing;
the squirrels granary is full and the harvest is done).

-The speaker continues by comparing the pale face (filled with anguish moist and fever-dew)
of the knight with a lily -> the knight must be sick

-The knight answers that hes met a beautiful lady with long hair, light feet and wild eyes.

-The knight makes the fair lady a flower wreath (garland) and flower bracelets. She falls in
love with the knight (she look ed at me as she did love)

-Then, the knight takes his lady on his pacing steed and this is what they do all they long
(while the girl bent sidelong sings a faerys song)

-The maid then gives the knight roots, honey wild and manna-dew and tells him (in a strange
language) that she loves him.

-She then takes him to her Elfin grot where she cries and he kisses her eyes four times. She
then lulls him to sleep and he dreams a terrible dream (woe betide! expression of grief):
he dreams pale kings and princes too, / pale warriors, death pale were they all which warn
him that La Belle Dame sans Merci (the beautiful lady without mercy) has him in
thrall/tided/bounded. He only sees the mens starved lips. He wakes up on the cold hills
side

-And so hes finished his story and explanation of why hei s alone and palely loitering. (The
poem ends with the 2 lines it starts with)

-the poem might be about the destruction and loss of freedom that result from love
 John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn

Publishing Year: 1820

I. The speaker addresses an old Greek Urn. He calls the Urn the bride of quietness
and the foster-child of silence and slow time => it is a really old Urn, however
unravishd. He also calls the Urn a Sylvan historian (sylvian -> forest),
because of its flowery tale which the speaker considers sweeter than his oun
rhyme. He then starts listing what he sees on the Urn by asking a series of
questions (What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?). The story
seems to be about some maidens chased by some men (or gods). However, the
atmosphere of the picture seems rather cheerful (What pipes and timbrles? What
wild ecstasy?)
II. In this stanza, the speaker says that heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard /
Are sweeter (meaning that the music he imagines the pipe players from the urn
play is better than the real music of pipes would be). He hears the songs with his
spiritual ear, not his real one (bodily).
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
the moment of the urn is forever still, it cannot change. The pipe players
cannot stop playing, but the season will forever stay beautiful as well.
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
()
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
 the men chasing the maidens are also trapped in the moment of the urn. They
chase the maidens forever, however they will never catch them. On the other
hand, they will continue loving the ladies (and they will seem beautiful for
them) forever.
III. The stanza describes again the moment that is trapped in time on the picture of the
urn. He sees the world of the urn as a very happy and filled with love place
( More happy love! More, happy, happy love!). He considers that of the
potential action/story that might be happening on the urn, the image presents the
actual peak of it (the moment right before the men/gods catch the women): For
ever warm and still to be enjoyd, / For ever panting, and for ever young. The
speaker ends the stanza by stating that the urn leaves his heart high-sorrowful and
cloyd.
IV. The speaker now analyses another picture on the Urn which represents a sacrifice:
the sacrifice of a cow (heifer = cow). The people from a little twn by river or
sea shore, / Or mountain-built are comming to see the sacrifice in this pious
morn (morning).
He does not know what the sacrifice is for (because there is not a soul to tell).
He says that the towns streets will always be silent and desolate.
V. The speaker calls the Urn a Cold Pastoral. He also calls the Urn friend to man
which will keep teaching even future generations (When old age shall this
generation waste) the fact that:
Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
This probably comes from the philosophic idea that the concepts of beauty
and of truth are both related (and describe) the metaphysical reality, the real
truth. Plato says that beauty is an attribute of the real truth (and we only see
sparks of it in the physical reality we live in).
 Jonathan Swift Gullivers Travels

Publishing Year: 1726

Book 4 A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF HOUYHNHNMS

Satire
Characters:
- Lemuel Gulliver (narrator and protagonist; good navigator; intelligent and well-
educated)
- Yahoos primitive human-like beasts
- Houyhnhms rational horses
- Gullivers Houyhnhm Master dapple gray horse
- Don Pedro de Mondez (Portugese captain [takes Gulliver back]; generous offers
Gulliver his best clothes)
- The sorrel nag (masters servat; close to Gullive)
Summary:
CH1: Gulliver leaves his pregnant wife again. Many of his crewmembers die at the
sea so he recruits outlaws who become pirates and betray Gulliver. They leave him on
an unknown shore.
Gulliver meets and disdains Yahoos. He hits one of them and the others attempt to
defecate on him.
A horse helps him. A second horse appears and talks to the first.
Gulliver pronounces Yahoo and houyhnhnm
CH2: Gulliver is led to a house where he learns the horses are rational and there are no
humans.
Gulliver is compared to a Yahoo.
The horses try to determine what he would eat (hay or ass meat)
Gulliver suggests he likes milk and that he can make bread from oats
Another horse comes to dine and the horses take pleasure in teaching Gulliver words
in their language
Gulliver is given a place to sleep with straw
CH3: Gulliver learns the horses language
The horses are impressed
After 3 months -> he answers the horses questions, but they dont believe him (They
think hes a superior Yahoo)
Gulliver asks the horses not to call him a Yahoo anymore and they comply
CH4: Gulliver explains:
- That Yahoos are governing creatures
- How the horses are employed (for travelling, racing, drawing chariots) and how
they are trained from a young age to be obedient
- Describes Europe
- Gulliver is asked to talk about England

CH5: Gulliver describes:

- The state of affairs in Europe (the English Revolution and the War of France)
- Causes of war
- Laws and justice systems (criticized lawyers)

CH6: Discussion continues with:

- Money
- Different foods (in Europe)
- Different occupations of people (medicine, constructions etc)

CH7: Gulliver love Houyhnhms => he no longer wants to return to humankind

Gullivers master comes to the conclusion that humans are not so different from
Yahoos. -> He describes Yahoos flaws (greed, selfishness) => their nature is the
same (only people have a little reason)

CH8: Gulliver wants to research Yahoos as well -> Yahoos = nimble from infancy,
but unable to learn; strong, malicious, cowards

Hoywhnhnms = concerned more with the community than with their own advantages
(choose their mates to promote the whole race)

When they are young -> they are trained for speed and strength (through races) and for
industriousness; cleanliness; civility

CH9: Gullivers master attends a Houyhnhnm meeting, where they debate whether to
extinguish Yahoos or not
Gullivers master suggests they should castrate them (the way Europeans castrate their
horses) => eventually Yahoos will die and in the meantime, they could breed asses
instead

Gulliver describes more qualities of the HOUYHNHNMS:

- Excellent poetry
- Knowledge of medical herbs
- Simple houses
- Live up to 70-75 years
- They accept death easily
- No writing system
- Only word to express evil -> Yahoo

CH10: Gulliver settles into life with Houyhnhms:

- Gets a room
- Sews clothes
- Begins to think people are Yahoos

Gullivers master tells him that the other horses take offence at Gullivers master
keeping a Yahoo in his house => Gulliver should either be treated as a Yahoo, or must
leave

Gulliver is very sad

Gulliver must leave => he builds a canoe with the help of a fellow-servant

CH11: Gulliver doesnt want to return to Europe => he looks for an island where he
can live

He gets to New Holland, but is struck with an arrow by the native -> he escapes

He hides; but Don Pedro de Mendez discovers him (after landing near his hiding
place). They question him (laughing at his horse-like accent). Don Pedro treats
Gulliver generously, offering him food, drink and clothes, but Gulliver can think of
him only as a Yahoo.
 Gulliver travels back to England and is filled with disgust for his family (the first yeat,
he cannot stay near them and he buys 2 horses an talks to them four hours a day_

CH12: Gulliver concludes that the law requires him to report his discoveries; but he
can see no military advantage in conquering the lands discovered. Moreover, he wants
to protect the Houyhnhnms.

Book 1 A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT

Characters:
- Captain William Prichard
- Skyresh Bolgolam
- Flimnap
- The Emperor of Lilliput
- The Emperor of Blefuscu
- Peter Williams
- Captain John Biddell
Summary:

CH1: Gulliver is shipwrecked and swims to the shore of Lilliput, where he is made a
hostage. He wakes up (on the shore of Lilliput) and notices hes been tied down (his
arms, legs and even hair).

The Lilliputians hit Gulliver with small arrows when he tries to untied himself.

They are amazed at how much he can eat. They give him wine with a sleeping potion
in it, in order for Gulliver to fall asleep and be carried to the Capital; where he meets
the Emperor and the Lilliputians make him a chain with which he can move freely
around the old temple hes going to sleep in (a temple no longer in use because a
murder was once committed there).

Lilliputians are great mechanics.

CH2: Gulliver is visited by the Emperor (at his temple), but they cannot understand
each other.
A few Lilliputians shoot Gulliver with no reason => the guards catch them and lets
Gulliver punish them. He takes one of the small people (puts the rest in his pocket)
and pretends to eat him; then he cuts his rope and releases him on the ground. =>
People are amazed and Gullivers popularity increases.

People are very curious about Gulliver, but the Emperor (worried they might start
neglecting their work) orders that they should have a license in order to get near him
(=> money for the Court as well).

Gulliver is taught how to speak the Lilliputians language (in 3 weeks) and frequently
asks the Emperor to be released, however he lets Gulliver wait.

His pockets are searched (except for Gullivers secret pocket in which he held intimate
and delicate objects) and his pistol and scimitar are taken from him.

*The Emperor looks a bit different than the other people (hes a bit taller)

CH3: The emperor organizes a show to entertain Gulliver: it is a competition of some

sort of rope dancing. Offices at the court are determined by the skill to jump high on
the rope. However, it is a dangerous game.

Gulliver uses his handkerchief and invents a sort of stage on which he puts some
horsemen (but a horse tears through his handkerchief)

The emperors army march between Gullivers legs.

Gullivers hat is found on the shore.

Gulliver is released, but on certain conditions (made by his enemy Skyresh

Bolgolam): for example, he cant leave Lilliput without permission, he cant go into
the city without a 2 hours notice before (and can only walk on the main roads) and so
on. Among the conditions, theres also the condition that Gulliver has to defend
Lilliput against the island of Blefuscu (their enemy)

CH4: The emperors great-grandfather decreed that from then on (the moment when
his son cut his finger cracking an egg) everyone should crack their eggs on the big end,
even though everyone used to crack them on the small end => conflict between
Lilliput (whose people crack their eggs on the big end) and the isle of Blefuscu (whose
people crack their eggs on the small end)
CH5: Gulliver captures the fleet of Blefuscu (who wanted to attack Lilliput) and the
emperor of Blefuscu asks for a peace treaty, then invite Gulliver to visit their country.
Gulliver is given permission to go, but his enemies at court will use this against him
(as an evidence of betrayal)

Gulliver is given a high rank (for his military success).

The Empress palace is on fire, but Gulliver extinguishes it by peeing on it. The
Empress is not pleased.

CH6: Gulliver talks about Lilliputs customs (for example, In Lilliput parents are not
responsible for their childrens education. The children area sent to special nurseries)

Gulliver lives in Lilliput for 9 months and 13 days. He makes his own chair and table.

The emperor comes to Gullivers house to have dinner (along with his family and
Flimnap the treasurer)

Flimnap = also an enemy of Gulliver

There are rumors that Flimnaps wife is having an affair with Gulliver (thing that
Gulliver vehemently denies).

CH7: The people of Lilliput decide to pluck Gullivers eyes out and starve him to
death. However, a friend of Gulliver comes at night and tells him about this plot.

Gulliver decides to run away.

He goes to visit Blefuscu and is welcomed by the emperor of Blefuscu.

CH8: Gulliver finds a boat on the shore and makes provisions in order to sail back to
his country.

The emperor of Lilliput sends a message to Blefuscu in which he orders Gulliver be

brought in 2 hours back because he is now considered a traitor. The emperor of
Blefuscu however helps Gulliver for the service Gulliver has done for him (helping
Lilliput and Blefuscu to make peace)

Gulliver sets out for Van Diemens Land. However, he meets with a ship (sailing from
Japan to England) on which there was an old friend of his (Peter Williams). Peter
 convinces captain John Biddell that Gulliver is a good man and the captain agrees to
take him on the ship and bring him back to England (where he stays for 2 months).

Book 2 A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG

Characters:
- Glumdalclitch
- The farmer
- The farmers wife
- The Queen
- The King
- The Dwarf

Summary:

CH1: Gulliver sets sails again on a ship called Adventure. The ship stops on an
island and Gulliver remains there because a giant starts following the ship (so they run
away).

Gulliver is found by a reaper and taken to his employer (a farmer). He meets his
masters (the farmer) wife, children and cat. The farmers wife makes a bad for
Gulliver (from her handkerchief), but he wakes up and encounters 2 huge rats. He kills
one of them with his sword and the other runs away in fear.

CH2: Gulliver gets very close to the farmers daughter Glumdalclitch, which takes
care of him and teaches him their language.

The farmer is advised by a man to bring Gulliver to a market and show him to the
world in order to make money and so he does. Gulliver is indeed profitable (he does
tricks and repeats the lines he knows in the giants language) => The farmer decides to
take him on a tour of the cities of the country.

It is a very tiring job for Gulliver.

They finally get to the capital city (Lorbrulgrud).

CH3: The queen of Brobdingnag buys Gulliver from his farmer and takes him to the
Court. Gulliver arranges that Glumdalclitch comes with him to the court as well.

Gulliver talks with the King about his countrys customs.

Gulliver constantly quarrels with the Queens Dwarf.

CH4: Glumdalclitch takes Gulliver at walks in a small box. They visit the capitals
temple.

CH5: Gulliver is very prone to danger in this country because he is very small.

Glumdalclitch gets very scared and promises to never let Gulliver out of her sight
again when the dog of the gardener takes him in his mouth and brings him to the
gardener.

He also has an encounter with a bird, but a servant saves his life by killing the bird.

The maids of honor (of the Empress) are entertained by Gulliver and they often take
off their clothes and pee in front of him (which he find repulsive because they are
gigantic)

Gulliver also encounters a monkey that tries to breast-feed him. He is saved and
Glumdalclitch takes care of him until he gets better.

People think Gulliver is a coward.

Gulliver also shows his skill in sailing.

CH6: Gulliver tells the King more about Englands politics and customs.

CH7: Gulliver proposes to teach the King how to make gunpowder, but the King asks
Gulliver to never even mention this weapons again. Gulliver thinks he is foolish (and
ignorant to politics).

Gulliver talks about the customs of Brobdingnag.

CH8: Gulliver stays 2 years in Brobdingnag and he wants to go home.

Gulliver goes on a trip to the south coast of the country together with Glumdalclitch,
the Queen and the King. He manages to convince the girl to let him go on the beach
 with a servant and she agrees. The servant than puts the box in which Gulliver is down
on the beach and Gulliver decides to take a nap. He wakes up because he feels a
sudden jolt. His box has been snatched by an eagle. The eagle then drops the box in
the water. Gulliver feels bad for Glumdalclith.

Water is slowly leaking into the box, but a ship has lashed it to the side of it. Gulliver
is surprised to see people small like himself.

Gulliver tells the captain about Brobdingnag and shows him the comb made of beard
hair and his pants made of mouse skin => The captain (Thomas Wilcox) finally
believes him.

Gulliver arrives back to England.

Book 3 A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, GLUBBUBDRIB,

LUGGNAGG AND JAPAN

Characters:
- Lord Munodi
- The Governor (of Glubbubdrib)
Summary:

CH1: Gulliver sets out on the sea again, but their ship is taken by pirates. A certain
Dutch-man (among the pirates) comes to hate Gulliver, however the Japanese captain
protects him a little. He is set adrift in a small canoe with 4 days provisions.

He gets on a shore and sees an island floating. People from the island lower down
some sort of system that can pull Gulliver up.

CH2: The floating island = Laputa

Gulliver find the people from Laputa very strange, even though they are the same size
as him. They clothes have pictures of either musical instruments or astronomical signs
on them and they are obsessed with mathematics (however they houses or not well
built). The lose their attention very quickly and have a sort of Flapper to hit
themselves in the head during a conversation (so they can stay focused).
The women often cheat on their husbands with men from Balnibarbi, but the men from
Laputa are so wrapped up in mathematics that they do not notice.

CH3: Laputians are great philosophers and astronomers.

Their island floats above Balnibarbi (but cannot go beyond its borders) with the help
of magnetic forces.

CH4: Gulliver gets bored in Laputa because the people there are much more
intelligent than he is, so he goes to Balnibarbi, where he meets a nice lord called
Munodi who invites Gulliver at his house. Munodis house is beautiful, but the rest of
the island is very poorly kept (this is because Munodi has never changed his way of
living).

CH5: Gulliver visits the grand Academy of Lagado, where he finds that professors of
Balnibarbo conduct pointless experiments (ex: they try to extract sunlight from a
cucumber)

CH6: Gulliver then visits the part of the Academy designated for studies of
government. These professors are also conducting pointless experiments (ex: they
think about studying excrements to find traitors). Gulliver proposes some
improvements.

CH7: Gulliver wants to travel to Luggnagg, but no ships are ready yet. => He travels
to Glubbdubdrib instead (or the country of sorcerers and magicians). He arrives at the
Governors home and finds that he can bring back the dead for one day. Gulliver
decides to ask the Governor to bring back Alexander the Great (who died from
drinking too much) and he also brings back to life a series of famous dead people
(Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, Brutus).

CH8: Gulliver brings back a series of famous dead people. He speaks with Homer,
Aristotle, Descartes. He brings back English Yeoman and they are bigger and stronger
than English people nowadays. => He thinks that English people are growing small
with time.

CH9: Gulliver travels to Luggnagg and pretends to be a Dutch (because he plans to

further travel to Japan and the only Europeans permitted there are Dutch people). His
true identity however (of English man) is discovered and is made a prisoner.
He then finds out that anyone want to see the king must crawl on their knees and lick
the floor. The king uses this tradition when he want to kill somebody (by poisoning
the floor).

CH10: Gulliver learns about the Struldbrug children who are immortal (and have a red
dot on their foreheads). He wishes he were immortal to (he would become a master of
many different subjects and would become rich). However, the Struldbrug children
wish they could die.

CH11: The emperor of Luggnagg offers Gulliver a job at the court, but seeing he is
determined to leave, lets him go with a letter of recommendation to the Emperor of
Japan, gold and a red diamond.

In Japan, he is told to trample the crucifix (because that is what Dutchmen do), but he
asks the Emperor to be excused from this. The Emperor agrees but tell him to not tell
anyone or he will be killed by the others.

He travels from Japan to Amsterdam, and then back to England.

 Laurence Sterne Life and opinions of Tristram Shandy

Publishing Year: 1750

Characters:

- Tristram Shandy
- Walter Shandy
- Uncle Toby
- Elizabeth Shandy
- Corporal Trim
- Dr. Slop
- Parson Yorick
- Susannah
- Obadiah
- Bobby
- Widow Wadman
- Bridget (the widows maidservant)
- The midwife
- Eugenius (friend of parson Yorick)
- Didius (the church lawyer)
- Kysarcius, Phutatorius, Triptolemus, and Gastripheres (together with Didius when
Walter wants to change Tristrams name)
- The curate (who baptizes Tristram)
- Aunt Dinah
- Le Fever
- Billy Le Fever (the orphan)

Summary:

VOL .1

Ch.1&Ch.2: Tristram Shandy begins his tail with the story of his conception and how his
mother interrupted the act asking a question abot the winding of the clock.
The author thinks that the circumstances in which a chil dis conceived influence the future
abilities of the child. He complains about his parents carelesness in this respect: "Had they
duly weighed and considered all this, and proceeded accordingly,I am verily persuaded I
should have made a quite different figure in the world"; I tremble to think what a
foundation had been laid for a thousand weaknesses both of body and mind.

He also talks about the Homunculus and the animal spirit and how they did not work
accordingly during the sexual act because of his mothers interruption.

Ch.3: It was Uncle Toby who told Tristram about his conception and his father (Walter
Shandy) verified the connection between the story and the weaknesses of the child. His
mother(Elizabeth Mollineux ) is the only one who never understood this theory.

Ch.4: Tristram talks about his father who was originally a Turky merchant and one of the
most regular men in every thing he did. He says that his father made a rule in winding up a
large clock on the first Sunday night of every month.

On 25th of March (Lady-Day) [the day of Tristrams geniture] his father set aut on a
journey to London to fix Tristrams elder brother Bobby to Westminster school. He came
back the second week of May.

Ch.5: Tristram was born on 5th of November 1718. He has asthma.

Ch.6&Ch.7: A poor widow from the village was given a midwife licence(written by the
lawyer Didius) which was paid for the parson himself, because the people were often
borrowin his horses in order to got to the nearest midwife(which did not leave nearer to the
village than 7 miles away).

Ch.8: Is about the Hobby-Horses. Tristram says that even the wisest men have had thei
hobby-horses and its nobody elses business. He also affirms that he has several Hobby-
Horses of his own and that important people should ride them moderately.

Ch.9: Is a dedication brand new and never made public before. It costs 50 guineas and the
money are to be paid in care for the publisher. All ch.9 and everything related to Hobby-
Horses are included in the offer; the rest of the book is dedicated to the Moon.
Ch.10: About the parson Yorick: The parson only rode Rosinante (a Spanish horse) a lean,
sorry, jack-ass of a horse; even though he owned a saddle of silver-headed studs. People
always using the parsons horses in order to got to the nearest midwife caused broken-down
horses one after another. Therefore, the parson decided to stop people from using his horses
(by setting up the widow to be a midwife) and for himself to ride the same horse. However,
his parioshioners thought that pride and selfishness were his motives.

Ch.11: Trsitram thinkst that the parson Yorick was descented from the Jester Yorick who was
part of Halmets court in Shakespeares play. He also adds that the parson hated
gravity(seriousness), was indiscreet and foolish on every other subject of discourse where
policy is wont to impress restraint and that he made jokes about people without weighting
the atmosphere or circumstances. This is what brought him a lot of enemies, even though he
was actually simple-hearted and innocent in many ways.

He thought that gravity is mysterious carriage of the body to cover the defects of the mind".

Ch.12: The parson dies an early death because of the malice of his enemies and his friend
Eugenius witnesses his death. On the gravestone is written Alas, poor YORICK!.

Ch.13: About the midwife: The author reminds the reader that by the word world he means
about four or five miles (a little larger than his village). He also adds in confidence that e
map of the world will be attached to the 12th volume.

Ch.14: The author says that there are a lot of things that a man writing a history must do
while writing it, like Accounts to reconcile; / Anecdotes to pick up; / Inscriptions to make
aut; / Stories to weave in.. and so on. However, he intends to keep writing and publishing 2
volumes of his life every year from now on.

Ch.15: Starts with the document of his mothers marriage settlements saying that Mrs.
Shandy could give birth in London if she desired; however, that if she had a false alarm she
forfeited the next turn. She had a false alarm the year before Tristram Shandy was born and
Mr. Shandy wanted her to give birth at Shandy Hall. Mr. Shandy was mad about the wasted
trip and decided that she should give birth (to Tristram Shandy) in the country in order to
balance last years trip.

Ch.16&Ch.17&Ch18: Since a great obstetrician (Dr. Maningham) is not available, Mrs.

Shandy decides she will go to the village midwife. Mr. Shandy, thinking about the public
opinion, suggests she is assisted by the man-midwife (Sr. Slop), but Mrs. Shandy will have no
one but the midwife. After a lot of discussions Mr. Shandy gives in and they both agree that
the midwife will assist at birth, but Dr. Slop will also be present in case anything happens.

Tristram speaks about his dear, dear Jenny as if she were a friend of his. A female reader to
whom Tristram is addressing (Madam) seems to think that she is his mistress.

Ch.19: Tristram talks about his fathers theory about certain names (he thinks that there are
good and bad names and that they influence the fortune of a person). For example, he thinks
that: Jack, Dick, and Tom are neutral names; Trismegistus and Archimedes are powerful
names, William too stands pretty high and Andrew, Simkin and Nick are bad names (Nick,
he said, was the DEVIL.). But of all names he had the greatest avertion towards Tristram.
He even wrote a dissertation simply about the word Tristram. "Who," asks Walter, "ever
heard tell of a man, call'd Tristram, performing any thing great or worth recording?" Tristram
draws the attention towards the title of his book and asks the reader to sympathise to his father.

Ch.20: Tristram now addresses the female reader and sends her to read the last chapter again
for she has been unattentif enough to not figure out that Tristrams mother was not a Catholic
(from the line: It was necessary I should be born before I was christend. of Ch.19). The
author then says readers should not skip the "deep erudition and knowledge" in a book, only
"in quest of the adventures".

Tristram then quotes the medical-legal-ethical document in French (MEMOIRE present a

Messieurs les Docteurs de SORBONNE) and its Response, in which the problem of
baptizing a child before it is born in its mothers womb (using a syringe) is presented.
Tristram then proposes that all of the HOMUNCULI of the man should rather be baptized
all at once using a syringe (because it is easier).

Ch.21: About Uncle Toby: He is a virtuous and very modest man. He often argues with
Tristrams father about Tristrams Aunt Dinah who "was married and got with child by the
coachman", because Walter Shandy would not let the story rest ("What is the character of a
family to an hypothesis?") and Toby Shandy does not stand talking about this disgrace in his
family. [Whenever Walter Shandy would start this discussion Toby would start whistling
"Lillabullero" => Argumentum Fistulatorium" argument by whistling.]

Tristram also adds that apart from his Aunt Dinah, no female character of the family had any
personality at all; yet all the males had a rather peculiar personality.
Ch.22: Talks about digressions in his work (and exemplificates with the portrait of Uncle
Toby interrupted by the remembrance of Aunt Dinah and the coachman from the previous
chapter). He also adds that there is both digression and progression in his work (like in a well
designed mechanism).

Ch.23&Ch.24: If people had windows in their breasts we could easily tell their personality,
but they dont. Therefore, Tristram will try to describe Uncle Tobys personality by
describing his Hobby-Horse.

Ch.25: At the siege of Namur Uncle Toby is wounded in the groin and confined in bed for 4
years and out of pure brotherly love Walter takes him in his apartment in London. He listens
to his stories about the siege because this feels like a relief for Toby. However, something that
threatens to retard Tobys cure comes up and the reader cant possibly guess what it is (it will
be presented in the next book).

VOL.2

-Stern continues his story about uncle Toby: -Unfortunately the battle was so complex that he
cannot remember how he got injured.

-He decides that it is important for his recovery to discover how and where he got injured and
becomes obsessed with this (finding his new hobby-horse). He buys books and a map to
remember his old battles and study military science

-Toby suddenly decides he has to get better and recovers after 6 weeks.

-Trim (Tobys servant) suggests they should move to the countryside, where they can recreate
bttles. Toby agrees.

-The author speaks again about the time he was born: when Walter and Toby were waiting by
the fireplace. Tristrams mother is in the labor so the servant Susannah calls the midwife,
while another servant Obadiah calls for Dr. Slop.

-Walter and Toby have an argument (because Toby knows nothing about women and thinks
Walters wifes choice for the midwife is out of modesty). Walter also insults Toby during an
argument about science and the engineer Stevinus, but Toby shows he has no hard feelings
(even though his feelings are hurt). Walter apologizes and the brothers make up.
-Dr. Slop arrives and bumps into Obadiah on the way, but he forgot his tools => Obadiah goes
to bring them.

-Trim brings Toby a book of Stevinus and finds a sermon (of parson Yorick) in it which he
reads out loud.

-Obadiah returns with the tools. The men are having a discussion on medical advances and
child-birth problems (Walter is worried about his Wifes child-birth).

VOL.3

-Obadiah has tied Dr. Slops tools too tight and so he cannot untie them. He uses a knife to cut
the knot but cuts his thumb and starts cursing Obadiah, together with Walter (who used the
Catholic excommunication by Ernulphus to curse).

-Susannah comes in and calls for Dr. Slop (because she hurt her arm and the midwife hurt her
hip). The doctor is irritated by the fact that he is subordinated to the midwife.

-Dr. Slop uses his forceps on Tobys hand. Then goes upstairs

-Walter and Toby fall asleep, but they wake up to find (from Trim) that Dr. Slop is building a
bridge in the kitchen for the childs nose which he damaged with his forceps.

-The author speaks about Tobys drawbridge for a battle scene that he is constructing at his
country house.

-Walter Shandy is obsessed with noses and thinks that his familys history of small-noses
affected them in a bad way.

VOL.4

-The 4th volume starts with the tale of Slawkenburguis (about a man with a big nose)

-Susannah announces that the child is going to die and that it should be baptized beforehand,
so Walter chooses the name Trismegistus (which he thinks is a strong name).

-Susannah mistakes the name and the curator thinks that Walter meant Tristram.
-In the end, the child does not die and remains with the name Tristram => Walter is upset.

-Walter asks Yorick if he can change the childs name, but Yorick directs him to the Church
lawyer Didius. Walter, together with Toby, Yorick and Eugenius, go to the lawyer.
Unfrtunatelly, parson Yorick burns the writers (Phutatoruis) groins with a hot chestnut by
accident => Didius decides they cannot change the name.

-Walter receives a great sum of money from Aunt Dinah and thinks about either helping
Shandys estate or sending his son Bobby on a trip.

-Bobby dies.

VOL.5

-Tristram relates how Susannah tells the other servants about Bobbys death in the kitchen
Trim (seeing Mrs. Shandy) feels sorry as well.

-Walter decides to focus on Tristram and write a book about how to educate a child.

-At the age of 5, while sitting in this bedroom together with Susannah, Tristram is
circumcised by the window that falls over him (by Toby and Trims accident).

-Dr. Slop takes care of Tristram, while Tristrams father reads to the others from his book.

VOL.6

-Dr. Slope and Susannah try to help Tristrams wound but end up fighting.

-Toby suggests that Le Fever would make a great tutor for Tristram (*Toby is Le Fevers
guardian. His father died from a war casualty and Uncle Toby took him in). Walter agrees and
so does Mrs. Shandy.

-The war ends => Toby loses his hobby-horse and becomes bored and upset.

-Toby meets Widow Wadman.

-Susannah announces the couples future marriage.

VOL.7

-Tristram is ill => He decides to travel (in order to get better and run from death)
-[travels through stagecoach] Calais (writes about the towns history) Bologne Montreal
(Janatone, the inn keepers daughter) Abbevile Paris (thinks is ugly) Lyon (where
Tristram sells his carriage, makes friends with an ass, is asked money for another carriage and
forgets his travelling notes, but eventually finds them under a ladys hat)

-Tristram is sure he has recovered and travels on a mule in the Southern parts of France.

VOL.8

-This volume tells the story of Toby and the widow:

-When Toby and Trim started their work at the country house, Toby had to live for a few days
at the widows house. She quickly falls in love with him, but he is too absorbed in this war
hobby.

-After the war is over, he notices his love for the widow.

-Tristrams parents are amused and Walter sends Toby a letter explaining how to deal with
women.

VOL.9

-Toby and Trim are going to the widows house (for Toby to confess his feelings), whie
Tristrams parents are watching from afar. Trim talks about his unfortunate brother Tom who
he got taken by inquisitors because of her Jewish wife and how he does not agree with
marriage.

-Toby hesitates, while Bridget and the widow are waiting for the 2. Eventually Trim knock at
the door and enter.

-In the house, Trim talks to Bridget and Toby talks to the widow. The 2 couples talk about the
males injuries and the widow asks Toby to show her where he got injured, but he
misunderstands and shows her Namur (the place where he was wounded).

-Bridget tells Trim that she has heard Toby is impotent but Trim denies the rumors.

-The 2 couples love blossoms and Toby asks the widow to marry him.
 Percy Bysshe Shelley Ozymandias

Publishing Year: 1818

-The poem is about the efemerity of political power and human pride

-The speaker meets a traveller from an antique land who stories him about some remainings
of a statue from his country: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/ stand in the dessert.
Near the trunkless legs, the face of the statue (visage) lies half sunk in the sand.

-The sculptor reflected the subjects (person whom the statue was supposed to envisage) real
traits (passions): frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command (arrogance) . This
passions of Ozymandias have remained stamped on these lifeless things.

-Near the statue, theres also a pedestal on which its written: My name is Ozymandias, King
of Kings; / Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!, suggesting that he must have been a
powerful king of his time. However, nothing beside remains and around the statue the lone
and level sands stretch far away.

=> human pride and arrogance and even power fades away in time
 Percy Bysshe Shelley Ode To The West Wind

Publishing Year:1820

I. The speaker addresses the wild West Wind (thou breath of Autumns being)
which he compares to a magician that drives the dead leaves (pestilence-stricken
multitudes) like ghosts from enchanter fleeing and leads the winged seeds to
their soil graves (each like a corpse) until its sister of the Spring will resurrect
them.
The speaker asks this Wild Spirit, both Destroyer and preserver to hear him
aut.
II. The seconds section speaks about a storm (Angels og rain and lightning). The
speaker compares the clouds on the sky (of the West Wind) with the leaves that are
shed on the earth during Autumn and with the hair of some fierce Maenad( from
the Greek mythology). The section end with the comparison between the
upcomming storm and a dome of vast sepulchre. Black rain, and fire, and hail
will burst
III. This time, the speaker says that the West Wind wakes the Mediterranean Sea
from his summer dreams and that it creates chasms into the Atlantic (waves).
The West Winds voice makes the sea-blooms and the oozy woods () grow
gray with fear and tremble.
IV. The poet wishes to be a leaf or a cloud which the West Wind controls, or at least to
be a comrade of it, how he was in his boyhood. The speaker was actually faste
and stronger than it back then (As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed / Scarce
seemd a vision). He says that if he were again like that, we wouldnt have asked
 the West Wind for help, but he has fallen upon the thorns of life and the passing
of time had chaind and bowd him down.
V. The speaker asks the West Wind to make him his lyre (The tumult of thy mighty
harmonies / Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, / Sweet though in
sadness). He then asks the Wind to completely idenify with himself (Be thou,
Spirit fierce, My spirit!) and to drive his thoughts over the universe like the
leaves. He compares his words with ashes and sparks and his talking to the
trumpet of a prophecy.
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? (-> after each death, rebirth follows)

Percy Bysshe Shelley Hymn to Intellectual Beauty

Publishing Year: 1817

I. The speaker talks about some unseen Power that floats among us in
various ways: or example through summer winds and moonbeams. This
Power visits each human heart like clouds and like the memory of music.
Like aught that for its grace may be
Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery. (=> the Power is grace and mainly
beautiful because its mysterious ways)
II. The Power = The Spirit of BEAUTY (that consecrates human thought)
The speaker asks this Spirit of Beauty where it has disappeared, leaving the
world in a desolate state (Why fear and drea and feath and birth / Cast on
the daylight of this earth / Such gloom; why man has such a scope / For
love and hate, despondency and hope?)
III. The speaker states that the names of Demon, Ghost, and Heaven are
given by humans to this Spirit of Beauty (which they cannot define because
it has vanished from them).
Thy light alone ()
Gives grace and truth to lifes unquiet dream
IV. Love, Hope, and Self-esteem, which are parts of this Spirit of Beauty,
like clouds depart / And come, for some uncertain moments lent. If men
had access to this sublime Power they would be immortal and
omnipotent.
The Spirit of Beauty is what inspires the lovers and the messanger of
symbpathies. It is also the human thoughts nourishment (Like darkness
to a dying flame!).
The speaker asks the Spirit not to leave (even after his death), because if it
did, the grave should be, / Like life and fear, a dark reality.
V. In this stanza, the speaker says that when he was a boy he also searched
for ghosts and the likes (pursuing hopes of high talk with the departed
dead). However, the shadow of the Spirit of Beauty fell upon him:
Sudden, thy shadow fell on me;
I shriekd, and claspd my hands in ecstasy!
VI. He vowed that he would dedicate his life/powers to the Power (knowledge
and love studious zeal or loves delight) and he has kept his vow. He
then hopes that the Power wouldst free this world from its dark slavery
(in which people define this Power through superstitions because they do
not understand it).
That thou, O awful LOVELINESS,
Wouldst give whateer these words cannot express.
This Power is beyond words.
VII. In the last stanza, the speaker talks about how the day becomes more
solemn and serene after noon, and about the luster in the autumn sky ->
 leading his argument to the beauty and truth in the knowledge of Nature
(the truth of nature) which has descended on his passive youth and
brought calm and harmony.
Its calm, to one who worships thee,
And every form containing thee,
Whom, SPIRIT fair, thy spells did bind
To fear himself, and love all human kind.
The poem is written from a retrospective point of view, it is about the return to
ones self through Nature.
 S.T. Coleridge Kubla Khan

Publishing Year: 1816

-The poem is about the pleasure-dome built by Kubla Khan (it refers to the actually Mongol
palace that was built from Kubla Khans decree)

-In the first part of the poem, the speaker describes the area around the dome: which is near
the sacred river Alph, that runs through caverns measureless to man / down to a sunless sea.
The dome is also built on a fertile ground

-Then, the speaker talks a little about the dome itself: with walls and towers () girdled
round and gardens bright with sinuous rills, / where blssomed many an incense-bearing
tree.

-The imagery then turns a bit sinister and the speaker compares the canyon near the dome
(the deep romantic chasm which slanted / Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover) to a
savage place () haunted by woman wailing for her demon-lover!

-The river creates a mighty fountain as passing through the chasm

-While listening to the noise of the river, Kubla Khan is thinking about war (And mid this
tumult Kubla heard from far / Ancestral voices prophesying war!)

-The image of the shadow of the dome floating on the waves -> contrast between
artifical/man-made creation with Nature

-In the last part of the poem, the speaker talks about another vision of his: that of a damsel
with a dulccimer (an Abyssinian maid) which played her dulcimer (singing of Mount Abora).
The speaker thinks that if he could remember her song he would be able to build that dome of
pleasures in the air.

Everyone around would be alarmed because of his flashing eyes, his floating hair and
would circle him thrice,

For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

 S.T. Coleridge Dejection: An Ode

Publishing Year: 1802

-Till that which suits a part infects the whole,

And now is almost grown the habit of my soul.

I. The poem starts with The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence. The speaker says that if the
writer of the ballad is weather-wise, a storm should come to the speakers so
tranquil now night too because the moon is similar to the moon from the other
poem.
The speaker actually wishes for the rough weather to come, because in the past the
sound of the rain and squally blast () oft have raised me, whilst they awed, and
sent my soul abroad and he hopes it would have the same effect now (might now
perhaps their wonted impulse give) and take away his dull pain.
II. In this section, the speaker describes his stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief.
He also starts addressing a certain Lady, to whom he tells about his heartless
mood and how he has been gazing to the western sky and the thin clouds
above and the stars that glide behind them or between, but with how blank an
eye.
 The speaker then admits that the sky (and clouds and stars) are beautiful. However,
he cannot feel their beauty: I see, not feel, how beautiful they are!
III. The speaker asks what could lift his spirits/make him feel, but he concludes in the
last 2 lines that his emotions should come from within, and not from external
factors:
I may not hope from outward forms to win
The passion and the life, whose fountains are within
IV. The speaker now explains to the Lady that we receive but what we give
meaning that we see the world around us/Nature according to our inner thoughts
and feelings; that the way we perceive the exteriour world is up to our interiour:
Ours is her wedding garment, ours her shroud!(Natures).
The speaker also says that the poor loveless ever-anxious crowd will forever see
the world inanimate and cold, because they do not have love in their lives. The
sweet and potent voice of the soul (that is suppose to sweeten the way we see
life) is not for everyone.
V. In this section, the speaker defines this power/voice of the soul as joy, which
only belongs to the pure, and in their purest hour an is undreamt of by the
sensual and the proud.
We in ourselves rejoice!
VI. The speaker now recalls from his past the time when he felt this joy, which helped
him get over any misfortune (There was a time when, though my path was rough,
/ this joy within me dallied with distress). However, afflictions now destoyed
his former happiness and each of their visitations suspends his Imagination
(which is very important to the speaker).
All the speaker can do now is to be still and patient and work on stealing (from
his own nature) his original self (who was happy).
VII. The speakers head is filled with viper thoughts and the wind is becoming
stronger (long has raved unnoticed). First, the speaker associated the wind with a
mad Lutanist playing at Devils yule. Then, the wind is associated with an
Actor, perfect in all tragic sounds. In the end, the speaker addresses the wind as
a mighty Poet who tells tragic/sad tales: the tale of an army (Tis of the rushing
of an host in rout) and that of a girl lost in the wild and moaning for her mother
(Tis of a little child / Upon a lonesome wild).
VIII. In the last section, the speaker states that even though its midnight, he cannot
sleep (Tis midnight, but small thoughts have I of sleep). However, he wishes
for the sleep to visit her friend (the Lady). He also wishes that all the stars hang
above her house and that she should always stay cheerful (Joy lift her spirit, joy
attunde her voice / To her may all things live, from pole to pole).
Dear Lady! Friend devoutest of my choice,
Thus mayest thou ever, evermore rejoice.
 William Blake Songs of Innocence and Experience

Publish Year: 1789

The Lamb

Song of innocence
Christian/religious

Little Lamb who made thee

Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee

The poet describes the lambs origins, its habitat, manner of feeding, its particular
attributes (such as its voice and clothing), suggesting that God is the one who enriched
the lamb with all these.

Little Lamb I'll tell thee,

Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.

The Lamb of God Jesus Christ

For he calls himself a Lamb; He became a little child Encapsulates both
symbols for innocence (the child and the lamb)
God is everywhere, in every creature, because he created all
Ends with the child blessing the lamb

-The idea of William Blake is that innocence is usually tainted by experience

The Tyger

1st quatrain same question as the one in the beginning of The Lamb (The poet asks the
tiger who could be its creator): What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful
symmetry?
2nd quatrain the poet asks the tiger what part of the Universe it came from (In what distant
deeps or skies / Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
Then, the speaker wonders who could have been the one (creator) to handle such a
fearful animal.
3rd quatrain What kind of creator was required to twist the sinews of the tigers heart?
The poet wonders again who would have had the courage to continue the job once the
tigers heart began to beat
4th quatrain God = a blacksmith (He needed a hammer, a chain, a furnace and an anvil to
create the tiger)
5th quatrain The speaker asks if when the job was done the creator was happy with it
and if the creator of the tiger could have been the same who created the lamb (Did he smile
his work to see? / Did he who made the Lamb made thee?)
6th quatrain the same as the 1st quatrain

The Creator who gave life to the Lamb (the innocence) is the same who created the
Tyger (the destructive, fearsome and wild power)

The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)

when my mother died I was very young

6 quatrains

1st quatrain the speaker stories that his mother died and his father sold him to be a
chimney sweeper when he was very young
2nd quatrain the speaker talks about when his sweeper friend, Tom Dacre, cried because
he was being shaved. The speaker comforted Tom by saying Hush, Tom! Never mind it,
for when your heads bare, / You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.
3rd , 4th and 5th quatrains the poem describes Toms dream: in which all their sweeper
friends (Dick, Joe, Ned, Jack) were locked in black coffins until an angel who had a
bright key freed them. Afterwards they were all running and laughing down a green plain
and washing in a river.
And the angel told Tom, if hes be a good boy,
Hed have God for his father, and never want joy. (last 2 lines of the 5th quatrain)
6th quatrain Though he morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm;
So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

The idea that the interior innocence is the one bringing peace and joy, and not the
sometimes miserable exterior conditions.

The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience)

A little black thing among the snow

3 quatrains

1st quatrain Where are thy father and mother? shows how lonely and hopeless the child
is
2nd quatrain The corrupt society wanted the child to suffer under the religious pretext that
suffering was good and would not let him be happy.
3rd quatrain They () Who make up a heaven of our misery Suggestion/Reference to
the religious idea of the society of those times: the Church taught people the suffering and
hardship in this life will help attain heaven in the other life. They justified all the misery as
holy.

The 2 poems are 2 different ways of looking at the corrupt society and the interior
peace:
- 1st poem shows how internal harmony and joy are only dependent on the
individual self.
- 2nd poem criticizes the society that cannot and should not try to use this idea (the
previous) to help people find peace, because it contradict with the idea itself (that
peace is an internal attribute).
 William Wordsworth We Are Seven

Publishing Year:1798

-The poem is about childrens innocence and optimistic view upon death:

A simple Child,

That lightly draws its breath,

And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?

-The narrator talks about his encounter with an 8 year old cottage Girl, whom he asks how
many siblings she has. She answers that they are seven in all.
-She then goes on and lists her siblings, saying that:
-2 of them are at Conway dwell
-2 of them are gone on the sea
-and 2 of them are dead (Two of us in the church-yard lie, / My sister and my brother)

-The narrator then tells her she should not count the dead ones (If two are in the church-yard
laid, / Then ye are only five.), but the little Maid does not understand why so and replies
by telling the narrator that their graves are green and they may be seen, that she often
does all sorts of activities near their graves (like knitting stockings, hemming her ketchief and
eating supper) and then storying how her siblings (Jane and John) died.

-The narrator keeps asking (twice more) the girl how many siblings she has (if those two are in
heaven), but her reply remains the same:
Twas throwing words away; for still
The little Maid would have her will,
And said, Nay, we are seven!
 William Wordsworth The Tables Turned

Publishing Year: 1798 (In Lyrical Ballads)

-The poem suggests a return to Nature (in which true wisdom lies)

-In the first quatrain the narrator tells the reader to quit his books and clear his looks.

-The narrator then goes on and speaks about the beautiful sunset (The sun above the mountain's
head, / A freshening lustre mellow), the woodland linnets music (Come, hear the woodland
linnet, / How sweet his music!) and even the throstles song (how blithe the throstle
sings!) and how dull books are in comparison to these (Books! 'tis a dull and endless
strife).

-He then affirms that Nature has a world of ready wealth, our minds and hearts to bless and
can be a better teacher than books and human knowledge in general (science):

One impulse from a vernal wood

May teach you more of man,

Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
-The narrator adds that our meddling intellect tries to gain knowledge by mis-shaping the
beauty of things (We murder to dissect).

-The poem ends with a call to turn back from Science and Arts and return to Nature (through a
heart that watches and receives)

William Wordsworth Expostulation and Reply

Publishing Year: 1798 (In Lyrical Ballads, with a Few other Poems)

*expostulation = remonstration/objection

-This poem also presents William Wordsworths philosophy upon Nature (and how Nature is
a better teacher than books)

-The poem shows a discussion between William and his friend, Matthew
-Matthew asks William why does he spend his time daydreaming on the old grey stone
(Why, William, sit you thus alone, / And dream your time away?) when he could enlighten
his mind by reading some books ("Where are your books?that light bequeathed)

-Matthew then continues his expostulation and tells William that Mother Earth bore him
with a reason and that other men have lived before him and he should and he should try to
learn from them (by reading books)

-Williams reply to Matthews expostulation is that senses work on their own, even if we
dont want them to (Our bodies feel, where'er they be, / Against or with our will)

-William continues by stating that our minds can be nurtured in a wise passiveness as well.
Everything in the world/Nature and even our inner voice (for we are also part of the Nature)
continuously speaks to us => we dont need to seek by ourselves, but listen to what the
Universe is telling us:

"Think you, 'mid all this mighty sum

Of things for ever speaking,
That nothing of itself will come,
But we must still be seeking?
 William Wordsworth Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early
Childhood

Publishing Year: 1807

1st stanza The poet talks about how nature (meadow, grove, and stream, / The earth, and
every common sight) seemed to him appareled in celestial light in the past, but not
anymore in the present (The things which I have seen I now can see no more.).

2nd stanza The poet says that the nature (the rainbow, the rose, the moon, the waters and the
sunshine) are beautiful even now, however he still feels that there hath past away a glory
from the earth.

3rd stanza While listening to the birds joyous song and watching the young lambs
during springtime, the poet is stricken with a thought of grief, however the waterfalls, the
mountains and wind drive his sorrow away and restore him to strength. He says no more
shall grief of mine the season wrong () And all the earth is gay. He encourages a
Shepherd-boy to shout.

4th stanza He addresses the creatures of the nature and says that his heart is at their festival
and that it would be a shame to not enjoy This sweet May-morning. At the end of the stanza,
he tells how a Tree and a field both speak of something that is gone and how the Pansy at
his feet asks Whither is fled the visionary gleam? / Where is it now, the glory and the
dream?.

5th stanza This stanza describes the birth as a sleep and a forgetting. The poet says that
before being born, we spend our time in heaven (Heaven lies about us in our infancy!) and
this is why children are more prone to perceive the nature through a vision
splendid[because they are closer to the remembrance of heaven]. However, while growing
old the remembrance fades away (at length the Man perceives it die away).

6th stanza The Earth tries to drive the Man away more and more from the joy of Youth,
luring him with earthly pleasures.
7th stanza In this stanza, the poet beholds a 6 year old child who is loved by his mother and
father. He shows how he tries to imitate adulthood (See, at his feet, some little plan or chart,
/ Some fragment from his dream of human life). He tries to imitate a wedding, a funeral and
even dialogues of business, love or strife. The poet think that this is what the whole life is
(an imitation, a play).

8th stanza The poet calls now the child the best Philosopher, a Mighty Prophet! Seer
blest!. He then rhetorically asks him why would he give away the truth and joy he was born
with for the inevitable yoke and the earthly freight.

9th stanza The poet says that even if he cannot perceive nature the same way he did when he
was a child, those first affections / Those shadowy recollections will still remain in his mind
and connect him to the Truth.

10th & 11th stanzas The poet now says that adulthood comes with its own pleasures/abilities,
like the philosophic mind and that he can take consolation In the soothing thoughts that
spring / Out of human suffering and In the faith that looks through death. Maturity enables
him to admire nature through the consciousness of mortality (vs. the childs idea of
immortality) and enjoy it even more than when a child from a different perspective
(Another race hath been, and other palms are won).

To me the meanest flower that blows can give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.